NY Jets: Marcus Maye’s contract named most team-friendly on roster

NY Jets’ safety Marcus Maye’s contract was recently named the most team-friendly on the roster.

The NY Jets have struggled with the whole team-building process over the last few years. Spending valuable draft capital and resources on positions of less importance and spending little on the game’s most important positions.

For that reason, any chance the Jets have to get a good young player on an affordable contract, they absolutely must take full advantage of it.

Few players on the current roster have made it to second contracts with the team — evidence that the Jets haven’t exactly been able to benefit from solid contributions from players on rookie contracts.

But one player who has broken that mold is safety Marcus Maye.

Maye has been very much overshadowed by his flashier, more loquacious counterpart in Jamal Adams. But Maye has developed into quite a solid safety over his three years in the NFL.

Now, it remains to be seen whether he will get that elusive second contract with the Jets. But for the time being, the value he has provided on his rookie deal has certainly been welcomed by the team.

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Marcus Maye’s contract is arguably the most team-friendy deal on the NY Jets’ roster.

In fact, Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski recently released a list of the most team-friendly contract on each NFL team and Maye earned the nod for the Jets.

The former Florida star is set to make just over $2 million in 2020 — a fraction of what his production would indicate he’s worth. 56 safeties will make more money than Maye this season.

It’s obvious that Maye is one of the most underpaid players at his position and expect that to change once he hits the open market next offseason.

The following is an excerpt from what Sobleski had to say about Maye’s contract situation.

“Overall, Maye’s numbers aren’t nearly as impressive as those posted by Adams, but the free safety is vitally important in Gregg Williams’ defense to make sure big plays don’t occur with any regularity. As such, the Jets may be better suited to maximize Adams’ trade value and re-sign Maye after a season in which he has a $2.1 million salary-cap hit.”

Maye is undoubtedly underpaid, but it is fair to question whether he is actually the most underpaid player on the team.

Obviously Adams’ name should be brought into the discussion — and if you ask him, he’ll surely answer the question with his own name. Adams is set to make around $7.2 million in 2020 making him the 13th highest-paid safety in the NFL.

That’s definitely well below his value, but not as egregious as Maye’s salary.

But perhaps someone like Folorunso Fatukasi should be taken into consideration. The defensive lineman was ranked as Pro Football Focus‘ No. 9 interior defender in the NFL last season.

Despite this, he’s set to earn under $800,000 in 2020. There’s a strong argument to be made that Fatukasi has the most team-friendly contract on the roster.

Nonetheless, Maye’s contract can certainly also qualify as one of the more team-friendly deals on the roster.

Now the attention shifts to whether he’ll receive a second contract with the team that drafted him.